Compared to the cocaine cartels of Colombia or the heroin overlords of the Cosa Nostra, the Chicken Drumstick Mafia of Transdniester is not an outfit whose name creates fear around the world. So for the benefit of those who are not that clued in about international poultry smuggling, here are some basic facts.

Transdniester is a tiny pro-Russian breakaway republic sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine. Like Crimea, many of its people want to become part of Russia rather than Europe – so much so that statues of Lenin and Soviet era hammer and sickles abound.

The really remarkable fact, though, is that according to Transdniester's official import figures in 2006, each of its half-million citizens consumes an average of 140 kilo… Read More

The digital age isn’t a good time to be a gaffe-prone functionary in the Downing Street press office. In pre-internet times, if some slightly naff press release went out, the chances were that only the crusty old hacks in the lobby would see it. These days, though, any tweet or Facebook announcement by Number 10 goes out to an entire army of wags just waiting to take the p–––.

Hence the storm of mirth over the picture released by Downing Steet of David Cameron talking to President Obama about the Ukraine crisis. It was tweeted out yesterday in a bid to show the PM's firm grasp on world affairs, with a poker-faced Mr Cameron talking on his hotline to the Oval Office.

Instead it's been taken about as seriously as a Cameron "selfie" with the caption "LoL – I'm talking… Read More

For anyone seeking guarantees that the West would stand up to Russia over Ukraine, the recent comments from Nato's top military commander were perhaps less than reassuring.

Interviewed on the day that armed pro-Russian gunmen siezed government buildings in Crimea, US Air Force general Philip Breedlove, who is Nato's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said there were no "contingency" plans on how to respond.

For an organisation whose very raison d'etre is stopping East-West confrontation, this might sound a little odd, although on this occasion, it wasn't quite how it seemed. What Gen Breedlove meant, of course, was that Nato was not taking its tanks out of storage and checking the codes on the nuclear missile silos. But to critics, it did sum up the way that a body created around the notion of a hostile Russia in 1949 now seems to have forgotten that its old adversary ever… Read More

With the Oscars over, shortlists are now being drawn up for that other big awards ceremony for the great and the good. The beginning of March is when the Norwegian Nobel Committee starts considering nominations for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the winner to be announced in October.

If that seems like a long time, bear in mind that just like the Oscars, the judges in the Nobel Prize have their work cut out these days, sifting through all kinds of nominations that are far more about politics than peace.

Would you nominate this man? Edward Snowden

Gone are the years where the award would simply go to some statesman who'd worked behind the scenes to end some long-term conflict. These days, a far more flexible definition of peace is deployed. On the 2014 list, for example, i… Read More

How many things can Scotland afford to give up with if it decides to go independent? Alex Salmond has already been told he'll lose the pound and have to reapply to join the EU. He may even have to form his own "Scottish Intelligence Service", aka the McMI5, as London will be obliged to view his fiefdom as a potentially hostile foreign power.

Now, though, we learn that Scotland may also have to part company with another great British institution: the BBC. Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, said yesterday that a vote for Scottish independence would involve leaving Auntie's fond embrace.

"If the vote is no, then it's a vote to leave the institutions of the UK, and the BBC is one of those institutions," she told an audience in Oxford on Wednesday.

Pastor Scott Lively is an ex-junkie and alcoholic from Massachusetts, who lists his hobbies as the Bible, history and classic films. His other big pastime – depending on who you ask – is inciting hatred against gays in Uganda.

Unless you move in US evangelical circles or the Kampala gay scene – and I suspect not many Telegraph readers do – you may not have heard of Pastor Lively until now, much less read his book, the "Pink Swastika", an expose of homosexuality in the Nazi Party.

Uganda's president, Yowere Museveni, signed the country's controversial anti-gay bill today, which will impose sentences of up to 14 years in prison for first-time "offenders".

It will come as no great surprise to many. Despite the tutting of the West, and the efforts of Uganda's small – and brave – gay rights community, the law has the backing of large numbers of Uganda's conservative churchmen, who are not exactly in the Lambeth Palace school of right-on thought.

What's also worrying are the comments from Mr Museveni's spokesman when he made the announcement this morning. The president, he disclosed, did not opt to quietly sign the bill over the weekend, while the world was distracted by the revolution in Ukraine. Instead, he wanted "the full witness of the international media to… Read More

Move over, Lawrence of Arabia. Half a century after the epic biopic starring Peter O'Toole, Hollywood is about to turn its attention to Gertrude Bell, the British adventurer and diplomat who was his female equivalent. Just like him, she wandered Mesopotamia at the turn of the century, befriending the sheikhs and tribes of the desert. Then, when World War One broke out, she too played a vital in organising the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks.

Gertrude Bell's exploits, as depicted in an illustration from 'Look and Learn' magazine

If her name doesn't ring a bell – excuse the pun – be reassured. Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, is not some politically correct attempt to big up some minor female character.

This was a lady who rode around on camelback with a pistol tucked in her petticoats, and… Read More

If, like me, you're too mean to pay for music via iTunes, you'll know that one cost-free alternative is to listen to YouTube, which nowadays has nearly ever pop song ever recorded.

As well as modern studio tracks, there is a wealth of obscure footage that had previously gathered dust in film archives. The Clash being interviewed on regional television, for example, Toyah doing Germany's answer to the Old Grey Whistle Test, and Japanese school bands doing AC-DC covers. And for those textbook nostalgia performances, there's always YouTube clips from Top of the Pops – although as I discovered recently, these have their own unique reminder of how times have changed.

For at the start of many of the TOTP clips is a brief appearance from none other than Jimmy Savile, who was a presenter on the show for decades,… Read More

As with any confrontation involving petrol bombs and live ammunition, reports of yesterday's violence in Ukraine are already depicting the country as a warzone. With 25 people reported killed as troops attempted to clear the main protest camp in Kiev's Independence Square last night, that may be a fair description.

What is arguably more worrying, though, is the possibility that yesterday’s events – the bloodiest so far in the two-month-long protests – may merely be the calm before the storm.

"It may seems strange to put it in these terms, but this was violence-lite," says Andrew Wilson, a Ukraine expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who spoke to me this morning from downtown Kiev.

"Yes, people were killed. But if the government is really serious about clearing the square, it… Read More